KVMR 2018 Year in Review: Our Favorite Albums – Once Again, All Over The Musical Map

Charlotte Peterson
More proof that KVMR 89.5 FM veers all over the musical map – and then some – is in the pudding, well, the “top ten” favorites lists below.
Very few 2018 albums – and even fewer “best sellers”- show up on multiple lists compiled by the Nevada City radio station’s 150 or so volunteer broadcasters. A preliminary count shows that Davis-based bluegrass/Americana artist Rita Hosking’s album, “For Real,” and legendary folksinger John Prine’s first original music album since 2005, “The Tree Of Forgiveness,” may have been listed on the most broadcasters’ “top ten” selections.
Some of those participating are broadcasters at the radio station’s alternative music format: KVMRx, which can be heard on The Bridge 105.7 FM 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. weekdays and 1 p.m. to 5 a.m. weekends, and 24/7 online at kvmrx.org
Mark Leviton – Pet Sounds – alternating Wednesdays 10 p.m. to midnight
Bob Dylan – More Blood, More Tracks: The Bootleg Series Vol. 14 – Columbia
The Beatles – White Album (50th anniversary) – Apple
Parliament – Medicaid Fraud Dogg – C. Kunspyruhzy
The Travelin’ McCourys – S/T
Drake – Scorpion – Cash Money
Dave Alvin & Jimmie Dale Gilmore – Downey to Lubbock – Yep Roc
Phish – Baker’s Dozen Live at Madison Square Garden – JEMP
Kamasi Washington – Heaven and Earth – Young Turks
The Beths – Future Me Hates Me – Carpark
Yo La Tengo – There’s a Riot Going On – Matador
Connie Coale – Music Magazine – alternating Wednesdays 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.
The Wood Brothers – One Drop of Truth – Honey Jar
Lake Street Dive – Free Yourself Up – Nonesuch
Richard Thompson – 13 Rivers – New West
Rita Hosking – For Real
Hannah Jane Kile – Broken Girl’s Anthem
Joe Craven & the Sometimers – Garcia Songbook – Blender Logic Arts
Prickly Pear – Music Magazine – alternating Mondays 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Billie Eilish & Khalid – Lovely (Single) – Darkroom/Interscope
Son Lux – Yesterday’s Wake (EP) – City Slang
LM5 – Little Mix – Columbia
Tash Sultana – Flow State – Mom + Pop
LSD – Thunderclouds (Single) – Columbia
Jonas Blue – Rise (feat. Jack & Jack) (Single) – A Positive
DeJ Loaf & Leon Bridges – Liberated (Single) – Columbia
Tender – Closer Still / Falling Asleep (Single) – Partisan
Lauren Auder – Who Carry’s You (EP) – True Panther Sounds
Thomas Greener – Ragged But Right – alternating Saturdays 12 p.m. to 2 p.m.
Colter Wall – Songs Of The Plains – Young Mary’s
Robbie Fulks & Linda Gail Lewis – Wild! Wild! Wild! – Bloodshot
Dave Alvin & Jimmie Dale Gilmore – Downey to Lubbock – Yep Roc
Kinky Friedman – Circus Of Life – Echo Hill
John Prine – The Tree Of Forgiveness – Oh Boy
Chris Smither – Call Me Lucky – Signature Sounds
Mary Gauthier – Rifles & Rosary Beads – In The Black
Stephen Clair & The Pushbacks – S/T – Old School
Jim Lauderdale – Time Flies – Yep Roc
Vivian Leva – Time Is Everything – Free Dirt
Suzanne Calkins – Undertow – Mondays 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. (KVMRx)
Amen Dunes – Freedom – Sacred Bones
Beach House – 7 – Sub Pop
The Breeders – All Nerve – 4AD
Exploded View – Obey – Sacred Bones
Flasher – Constant Image – Domino
Haley Heynderickx – I Need to Start a Garden – Mama Bird Recording Co.
Jo Passed – Their Prime – Sub Pop
Khruangbin – Con Todo El Mundo – Dead Oceans
Renata Zeiguer – Old Ghost – Northern Spy
U.S. Girls – In a Poem Unlimited – 4AD
Joyce Miller – Midnight Sun – alternating Thursdays 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Dave Alvin & Jimmie Dale Gilmore – Downey to Lubbock – Yep Roc
Robbie Fulks & Linda Gail Lewis – Wild! WIld! Wild! – Bloodshot
Jesse Harris – Aquarelle – Apple
Hawktail – Unless – Padiddle
I’m With Her – See You Around – Rounder
Vivian Leva – Time Is Everything – Free Dirt
Kacey Musgraves – Golden Hour – MCA Nashville
John Prine – The Tree of Forgiveness – Oh Boy
Aaron Lee Tasjan – Karma For Cheap – New West
Kurt Vile – Bottle It In – Matador
Shelter – Rollerz Radio – Fridays 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. (KVMRx)
Joe Ford – Colours In Sound – Shogun Audio
Klax – The Lucid EP – Critical Music
Enei & Kasra – Transmitter EP – Critical Music
V/A – Sick Music 2018 – Hospital Records
Black Barrel – Last Frontier – Dispatch Recordings
Jerianne Van Dijk – Morning Show – alternating Fridays 7 a.m. to 10 a.m.
Jon Cleary – Dyna-Mite – FHQ
Anderson Paak – Oxnard – Aftermath Entertainment
John Prine – Tree of Forgiveness – Oh Boy
Khruangbin- Con Todo El Mundo – Dead Oceans
LP Heart to Mouth – BMG
Larry Hillberg – Backroads – Saturdays 7 a.m. to 10 a.m.
Martha Scanlan – The River and the Light – Rock Ridge Music
Colter Wall – Songs of the Plains – Young Mary’s
3Hattrio – Lord of the Desert – Okehdokee
Barwick & Siegfried – Stones & Gravel – FGM
Rita Hosking – For Real
Chris Smither – Call Me Lucky – Signature Sounds
Ry Cooder – The Prodigal Son – Fantasy
Tommy Emmanuel – Accomplice One – CGP Sounds
Darol Anger & Emy Phelps – Music of Our People – Fiddlistics
Kevin Welch – Dust Devil – Dead Reckoning
Ruby Slippers – Click Your Heels Together – alternating Saturdays 4 a.m. to 7 a.m.
Folk Soul Revival – S/T
Hot Club Sandwich – No Pressure
Shake Russell & Michael Hearne – Live – Puff Bunny
The Steven Blane Band – Motel Blue
Willie Nelson – Last Man Standing – Legacy
Riders In The Sky – 40 Years The Cowboy Way
Karen Jonas – Butter
Bobby Sweet – All These Changes
Rhyan Sinclair – Barnstormer – Little Haunted Girl
Chicago Farmer – Live
Bex – Radish Beets – Thursdays 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. (KVMRx)
Liz Cooper & The Stampede – Window Flowers – Sleepyhead
Dr. Dog – Critical Equation – We Buy Gold
Anna St. Louis – If Only There Was A River – Mare
Sudan Archives – Sink – Stones Throw
Molly Burch – First Flower – Captured Tracks
Valley Queen – Supergiant – Roll Call Records
The Wild Reeds – New Ways to Die – Dualtone
tUnE-yArDs – I Can Feel You Creep Into My Private Life – 4AD
Shakey Graves – Can’t Wake Up – Dualtone
For more on this story, visit TheUnion.com.
Gary Wells – Crooked Highway – alternating Sundays 7 a.m. to 10 a.m.
The Crooked Jades – Empathy Moves the Water – Jade Note Music
Monks of Doom – The Bronte Pin – Pitch-A-Tent
Calexico – The Thread That Keeps Us – Anti-
Dom Flemons – Black Cowboys – Smithsonian Folkways
Rita Hosking – For Real
Neko Case – Hell-On – Anti-
Sera Cahoone – The Flora String Sessions – Lady Muleskinner
Frank Lee – Gourd Head
Adam’s House Cat – Town Burned Down – ATO
Dave Alvin & Jimmie Dale Gilmore – Downey to Lubbock – Yep Roc
Don Lipari – Earth Sounds – alternating Tuesdays 10 a.m. to noon
V/A – A Woman’s World: Songs of Resilience and Hope – ARC
Elina Duni – Partir – ECM
Kiran Ahluwalia – 7 Billion – KiranMusic
Yiddish Glory – The Lost Songs of World War II – Six Degrees
Robert ‘Robi’ Svärd – Alquimia – Asphalt Tango
Bombino – Deran – Partisan
Seckou Keita – Soar – Bendigedig
Monsieur Doumani – Angathin
Sonido Gallo Negro – Mambo Cosmico – Glitterbeat
Lynn Heintz – Morning Show – alternating Wednesdays 7 a.m. to 10 a.m.
The Bones of J.R. Jones – Ones to Keep Close
Sam Lewis – Loversity
Cowboy Junkies – All That Reckoning – Latent Recordings
John Hiatt – The Eclipse Session – New West
Joe Grushecky and The House Rockers – More Yesterdays Than Tomorrows – Schoolhouse
Cat Power – Wanderer – Matador
Doyle Bramhall II – Shades – Provogue
Richard Thompson – 13 Rivers – New West
Rita Hosking – For Real
Darol Anger & Emy Phelps – Music of Our People – Fiddlistics
Steve Cagle – Blues Spectrum – alternating Sundays 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Clothesline Revival – Holy Cow – Paleo Music
Eric Bibb – Global Griot – Stony Plain
Fantastic Negrito – Please Don’t Be Dead – Cooking Vinyl
Janiva Magness – Love Is An Army – Blue Elan
Kat Riggins – In the Boys’ Club – Bluzpik Media Group
Marcel Smith – Everybody Needs Love – Little Village
Muddy Gurdy – S/T – Vizztone
Rory Block – A Woman’s Soul: A Tribute to Bessie Smith – Stony Plain
Shemekia Copeland – America’s Child – Alligator
The Gold Souls – Good To Feel
Bringing the Dead back to life: Jerry Bash celebrates 26 years
Music lovers young and old could be seen enjoying Jerry Bash Saturday in Nevada City. The Deadbeats headlined the festival.

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